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So where did Village Days go?

13 Aug

A young Village Days patron trying out the bounce house last year.

If you’ve been wondering lately why you haven’t seen any advertisements about Village Days yet this summer, there’s a good explanation for that.  It’s not happening this summer.

But wait!  Village Days WILL be happening this fall.  Specifically, Village Days has been moved from the middle of August, when the event has traditionally been held, to the first weekend of fall, September 21-22.

Organizers decided to move the festival this year to get away from what has traditionally been a VERY busy summer weekend for vendors.  Being up against five other festivals that weekend made attracting vendors to Webster a difficult proposition.

So the move promises to make Webster’s annual celebration of summer even bigger and better than ever before.  Organizers are not only expecting many more vendors to participate, but they’re combining the event with the regular Saturday morning Main Street Farmer’s Market, a sidewalk sale, and a Soap Box Derby.

More details will be forthcoming in the next few weeks, but here are some highlights:

  • Friday night September 21 will feature an Oktoberfest theme. The Krazy Firemen will perform in the gazebo, and food vendors will offer German specialties.
  • Vendors and community groups will be set up along both East and West Main Street all day Saturday
  • The Main Street Farmer’s Market vendors will be encouraged to stay set up all day
  • Local businesses will have a sidewalk sale
  • Open houses at the fire department and Webster museum (which will also have children’s games in the front yard)
  • Soap Box Derby Saturday and Sunday
  • Rock and roll music in the gazebo Saturday night
  • Lots of kids’ activities including a bounce house

Stay tuned for more details.

 

 

Revisiting the Main Street Farmer’s Market

5 Aug

A shot from the Main Street Farmer’s Market in June

This being Saturday, I thought it might be a good time to revisit the state of the Main Street Farmer’s Market, which is trying to get a foothold in the village every Saturday morning.

The Main Street market was established, of course, to counter the decision by the Joe Obbie Farm Market to move from the community parking lot behind the fire hall to the Target Plaza.  The decision was a good one for them, judging by the number of vendors it attracts and the crowds of people who visit every weekend.

In contrast, the new Main Street Farmer’s Market has been, well, unimpressive.

On a good day there might be seven or eight vendors on the street.  But too often there are only four or five, and for a while they were so spread out it was hard to find them.  At least now all of the vendors have been clustered along West Main Street, so it looks a little bit better.

Granted, encouraging market growth is a Catch-22: it’s hard to attract new vendors when no one comes to buy your products, and no one wants to come to town if there are no vendors.  And it’s not like the village isn’t trying. I’ve seen cents-off coupons distributed to encourage new customers, and there are lots of special events coming up to draw families to town during the market.  So, little by little, those efforts might begin to turn things around.

In the meantime, there are still concerns about the safety of having vendor stalls along busy Main Street. No matter how many signs you put up, cars will continue to drive at unsafe speeds through the village.  That’s a concern which can only get worse as the farm market becomes more popular, and there’s little chance the market will be moved back off the street to a parking lot again. BID leaders like the idea of residents seeing a busy village, where there’s always something going on.

Unfortunately, right now the Main Street market isn’t quite pulling its weight in that regard. But it’s still early, and I hope things eventually improve, because the market is a good thing for the village. (And please slow down as you drive through!)

The Main Street Farmer’s Market is open from 8 to 12:30 every Saturday morning through October 13.  Upcoming special events include:

August 11: Dig Safely Day – Can Ya Dig it??

Stop by the Village Hall from 9 to noon to check out some of the village’s excavating equipment. Children are invited to pose for photos. There will also be balloons and tattoos.

August 18: Cooking Demo with Jim & Jeannean LaMonica

Jim & Jeannean from Uncle Jim’s Donuts & LaMonica’s Pizza are still cookin’ after all these years. They’ll hold a demo featuring the delicious seasonal vegetables from our area.

September 1: Storytime with the Mayor

Village Mayor Peter Elder will be at Yesterday’s Muse Bookstore at 11 am to read a story to children.

September 8: Lacrosse Clinic

Tom Spoonhower of Metro Sports will hold a Lacrosse Clinic, teaching tips and tricks for players of all ages.

Also, every week the Village Band will be on hand to provide music, and the Webster High School Marching Band will hold a bottle and  can drive every Saturday.

Click here to go to the village website for more details.

 

Attention Bug owners!

31 Jul

This note will be of interest to anyone who owns one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles, or would just love to own one.

Bug Bust 22, sponsored by the Finger Lakes Region Volkswagen Club, will motor into town this Sunday August 5 from 8 am to 3 pm at Webster Schroeder High School, 875 Ridge Road.

It’s a car show and swap meet specifically featuring one of America’s favorite cars, the classic Volkswagen Beetle.  If you’d like to show your car and vie for some prizes, registration begins at 8 am, and the show itself begins at 9. Awards will be handed out at 2:45, including 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for custom-made cars, a longest distance traveled award and Best of Show. There will also be door prizes, raffles, games, food and refreshments.

Pre-registration is $5 per car, or $8 on the day of the show.  Free admission for spectators.

Click here for more information. But remember, if you’re traveling from the west side, don’t plan to take Rt. 104, because it will be closed to traffic from Friday night through Monday morning.

Blood donors needed — now more than ever

30 Jul

An article in yesterday’s newspaper got my interest. The headline read,

Red Cross: Blood supply at lowest level in 15 years

As a regular blood donor, and someone who regularly encourages others to become donors, I knew I needed to pass this information along.

Donations always slow down over the summer as people go on vacations. But apparently this year the problem is compounded by severe storms in July which forced the cancellation of dozens of blood drives. Plus, since July 4th landed on a weekend, more employees took extended vacations and fewer businesses hosted blood drives.

So they’re at a point where doctors may have to cancel elective surgeries, and even more serious procedures like transplants will have to be postponed.

Fortunately, there are several local opportunities for you to help save a life by donating blood in the next few weeks:

St. Martin’s Lutheran Church
813 Bay Road, Webster
Wednesday August 8, 1-7 pm.

Webster Knights of Columbus
70 Barrett Drive, Webster
Thursday August 9, 1-7 pm

Curves
1698 Penfield Road, Rochester
Tuesday August 14, 1-6 pm

All presenting donors this month will receive a coupon for a free Turkey Hill Sun Brew Iced Tea.

If you can’t make any of these, you can always take the short trip down to the Perinton blood center at the Perinton Hills Mall on Moseley Road in Fairport, where they accept donations from 11 am to 6 pm Mondays and Wednesdays and 7 am to 1 pm on Saturday.

Just drop in at your convenience, or schedule an appointment at 1-800-733-2767 (an appointment will get you in and out a little faster).

 

Hojack Trail extension officially open

27 Jul

Hikers have something to celebrate this evening.

The much-anticipated extension of the Hojack Trail will officially open to the public this evening (Wednesday July 25) with a ribbon-cutting at 7:30 pm,  where the trail crosses Route 250 (South Ave.).

The Hojack Line itself has always passed through the village, of course. But what’s new and wonderful is that the old railroad tracks have been removed in the section from Holt Road east to Xerox, making an already great trail even better.

The project has been in the planning stages for years. Its completion is a result of outstanding cooperation between the Town and Village of Webster highway departments to remove the tracks, prepare the railroad bed for a walking trail and leveling the crossings for automobile traffic. Original plans were to have the new extension ready by July 31.  And look at this — they did it.  So there’s still plenty of time to try it out and hike it this summer and fall.

Many thanks to Webster town and village officials who helped make this happen.  It’s a valuable addition to Webster’s already exceptional trail system, thanks in large part to the volunteers of the Friends of Webster Trails.

If you don’t know the history of the Hojack Line, I recommend you click here to read a very informational piece on the Friends’ website.

 

 

Photos from the Firemen’s Parade

13 Jul

Not much to say about yesterday’s Fireman’s Parade. As always it was a great event, and the Webster community came out in force. One report I heard was that chairs were being set up along Main Street even before 7 am.  One of the marchers told me the crowds were bigger than she had ever seen before, 4 and 5 deep all along the route.

I took tons of photos, of course (actually, only about 200) and have posted a few of my favorites here. The rest can be seen by clicking here or on one of the photos.  I didn’t get a photo of everything in the parade (there were SO many fire trucks!) but I did try to capture the highlights. And you’ll notice that small children are some of my favorite subjects.

The Fireman’s Carnival continues tonight and tomorrow, culminating with fireworks at midnight. Click here  for details.

 

A famous local fiddler, cool science and a kiddie parade

11 Jul

Several little tidbits of information I want to toss out today, before I get to photos of last night’s kiddie parade. A few of these have been hanging around my email box for weeks, just waiting for me to get around and blog about them.  But this first nugget came to my attention just yesterday afternoon, and will interest anyone following the career of one of Webster’s finest musical talents, Kate Lee.

Kate is a 2010 graduate from Webster Schroeder High School, and an incredible fiddle player who has already been making a name for herself in Nashville, where she attends Belmont University.  Last November, for example, she was one of several back-up musicians for Rascal Flatts on the Country Music Awards television program.

Yesterday she announced something even more exciting. On July 24 she’ll be playing violin for the Heart & Soul Concert behind Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Wow.

Keep an eye on this young lady, folks, ’cause she’s going places.  Actually, you can see her for free at the Little Theater the day after the Heart & Soul Concert, playing a free concert from 7:30-9:30 pm.  Check out her website here.

* * *

This Friday, CDS Monarch’s Wolf Life Transitions Center on Hard Road will host a Luau Dance from 6:30-8:30 pm.  As always, there will be refreshments and music from DJ Delight. Cost is $5 per person for community members. RSVP to Summer at 347-1661 or Summer.Vanscott@cdsmonarch.org.

* * *

Cherry Ridge is hosting a concert series this summer, called Under the Stars. Gateswingers Big Band will perform on Tuesday, July 24, and Gentlemen of Song will perform on Thursday, August 16. The concerts are held on the Cherry Ridge Lawn from from 6:30 – 8 pm and there’s no charge. Refreshments will be served and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs. In case of inclement weather, concerts will be moved inside.

Cherry Ridge is located in Webster, across from Webster Schroeder High School.

* * *

Remember that great idea you had at the beginning of the summer? “Hey, let’s NOT sign the kids up for camp this year, so we can spend more quality time with them!”

So now you’re wondering what the heck you were thinking, and you’re all stressed because this late in the game all the summer camps are full. Don’t sweat. Here’s a super option:

It’s called “Cool Summer of Science with Mr. Noon,” a series of week-long summer science classes (for 4-6 year olds and 7-9 year olds) taught by Williamson High School science teacher Brendan Noon. The classes feature age-appropriate hand-on activities that are not only fun but help develop the skills kids will need to meet the next generation of National Science Standards. (So they’ll be learning while they’re having fun, but don’t tell them.)

Upcoming classes include weather and the interaction between organisms and their environment.  You can click here for more details, but I’ll tell you right now the kids will be making clouds, playing in a pond and collecting slimy things.  Sounds like fun to me.

Classes cost $25/day and are held from 9 – 10:30 am Monday-Friday, at 153 Salt Road in Webster. For more information log onto the Science With Mr. Noon Facebook page or email Mr. Noon at Brendan.Noon@yahoo.com.

* * *

Finally, a quick note about the Kiddie Parade which took place last night in the South Avenue/Spry Middle School neighborhood. This annual warm-up for the Fireman’s Parade (which happens tonight in the village) is always an adorable affair.  I love the idea of this parade, because it gives kids of all ages a chance to get dressed up in costumes, march in a real parade (albeit a very short one) and throw candy at high velocity at the people lining the parade route.

(And I had forgotten about the candy at high velocity part. Popping in and out of the parade taking pictures, I felt at times like I was in a war zone dodging bullets. A strawberry Dum-Dum actually hit me so hard in the shoulder it made a mark.)

It’s also fun to see how much the kids’ parents enjoy the parade. Many of them dress up in themed costumes, and it’s obvious how much thought and effort work goes into many of the “floats.”  I’ll bet some families start working on them months in advance.

One child who was watching the parade walk by described it this way: “It’s like Halloween, only earlier.”  I’m not sure whether he was referring to the costumes or the abundance of candy.

As usual, I took lots of photos. Click here or on the photo above to see the gallery.

email me at missyblog@gmail.com

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More music, more music, more music!

9 Jul

A crowd enjoys one of last summer’s concerts.

I write with some regularity about all the music options we have here in Webster during the summer months, in particular the village band performances on Thursdays and Gazebo concerts on Fridays.  But so far I have been totally ignoring another fine concert series which conveniently gives us somewhere to park our quad chairs on Wednesday.

The Main Street East band got the kids into the act.

That would be the Community Concert Series at the United Church of Christ on Klem Road. The concerts themselves take place on the front porch of the church, and seating is on the lawn — or indoors if it rains. And what’s really neat about these concerts is that proceeds from each concert benefit a different Webster non-profit organization.  There’s no charge, but a free will offering is accepted and concessions are sold, including soda, hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork and a weekly “special.” Last year the church raised $5400 from the concerts in free will offerings.

The concerts start up tomorrow, Wednesday July 11 and continue every Wednesday through the middle of August.  Here’s the schedule: (Click here  for more information about the bands.)

The Dady Brothers will return on August 8.

July 11: Gateswingers Big Band to to benefit Webster Comfort Care Home
July 18: Main Street East to benefit Webster Health & Education Network
July 25: Half Ton Horns to benefit Webster Friends of Trails
August 1: Ruby Shooz to benefit Webster Community Chest Food Cupboard
August 8: The Dady Brothers to benefit Heritage Christian Home Jennifer Lane
August 15: Nik Lite to benefit Webster Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary

Concessions open at 6 pm and the concerts begin at 6:30. The United Church of Christ is located at 570 Klem Road.

Thank you to Susan Mitchell for letting me know about these concerts. They sound like a lot of fun, for a good cause.

 

Webster Jazz Fest hit a high note again this year

8 Jul

Thousands were already on hand when the festival began, and more kept arriving all evening.

If you didn’t make it into the village of Webster last night for the Jazz Festival, you missed a wonderful evening filled with great music, great food, good friends and incredibly good weather.

Mother Nature threatened all day to make the evening a wet one, but by the time the music really started to groove, the rain clouds had parted and blue skies prevailed.  It wasn’t even that hot or muggy.  By 5:30, when the Bill Tiberio Band hit the downbeat at the Four Corners stage, hundreds of people had already settled into their lawn chairs or on blankets, or had staked out the handful of cabaret-style tables in the middle of West Main.

As the weather continued to get even better, people kept arriving and the crowds kept getting bigger.  At around 7:00 everyone turned their quad chairs around to face the Corning Park stage, where jazz fest regulars Paradigm Shift performed a set.  Then at 8:30, pianist Lao Tizer wowed the crowd with his take on contemporary jazz. I even liked his stuff, and jazz normally bores me to tears.

The Bill Tiberio Band opened the show.

On a side note….

I spent most of the evening (when I wasn’t wandering around taking photos) at Barry’s Old School Irish, which has become a second home of sorts for my family.  I was reminded how last year when I was at the Jazz Festival I also spent most of my evening on that corner.  At that time, though, there was only a sign announcing that Barry’s would be “coming soon.”  In the blog I wrote a few days later, I remarked:

Barry’s calls itself an “old school Irish pub, cafe and bakery,” whatever that means. My husband is Irish and he’s never heard of such a thing.  And he went to an old school, complete with nuns wielding hand-smacking rulers.

When Barry’s finally did open up its doors, we sure didn’t get any ruler-smacking nuns. But we did get a bunch of new friends, which helped make this year’s Jazz Fest even better that last year’s.  And I didn’t think that was possible.

Jazz Festival headliner Lao Tizer (center) was a crowd favorite.

The waitresses who worked the crowd were an inspired idea. They brought tons of business to the village restaurants.

These t-shirts were another great addition this year. I’m sorry I forgot to purchase one before I left.

As the sun set the music got cooler…

… and the dancers came out.

Jazz Festival returns to Webster Village this weekend

5 Jul

I hope this recent string of good weather keeps up for a few more days, because the Jazz Fest rolls back into town this Saturday.

This year’s featured entertainers include The Bill Tiberio Band, Paradigm Shift and contemporary jazz keyboardist Lao Tizer. You can click here for more details about the evening’s events, but here are the basics:

Everything happens on West Main Street in the village, where the street will be cordoned off, two stages set up, and there’ll be plenty of room to set up chairs and blankets for the evening. You can start setting up at 4:15, and the music begins at 5:30. Admission is free.

Here’s the schedule:

  • 5:30 pm: The Bill Tiberio Band on the East Stage (near the four corners)
  • 6:50 pm: Paradigm Shift on the West Stage (near Corning Park)
  • 8:30 pm: Lao Tizer plays two sets on the East Stage

Bring your own picnic fixings and beverages or you can buy something from one of many food vendors set up along the street.

Aside from a possible thunderstorm, the weather looks like it might cooperate. But if not, the rain plan is for Bill Tiberio to play at The Coach Sports Bar (23 West Main St.), Paradigm Shift at Hatter’s Pub (5 West Main St.), and Lao Tizer at The Coach.

This is always a wonderful event, and the whole town seems to come out for it. It’s a great chance to meet up with family and friends on a beautiful summer evening.

 

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